Many home owners, renters and building owners have found that much energy can be saved and greater comfort can be achieved by covering building windows. This procedure is most often used during winter months to prevent drafts from entering the enclosure as well as to further insulate a window; however, covering the windows of a building has been found to be useful in the summertime as well.
The window coverings often include storm windows; however, it has been found that the cost and inconvenience associated with storm windows sometimes outweighs the benefits achieved by installing such window coverings.
Accordingly, many people use a flexible covering, such as translucent plastics-type materials. These materials are generally fixed, as by taping or by gluing, to the casing surrounding a window unit to cover that window. Such coverings are generally installed just prior to a winter season and removed just prior to a spring or summer season.
While less expensive than storm windows, these flexible coverings still have several disadvantages which place them at a disadvantage with respect to storm windows. Such disadvantage inhibits this type of window covering from achieving a full measure of commercial success.
For example, the requirement of removing an entire assembly from a glued or taped mounting on a window casing each year, and then cleaning glue or tape remains from the casing can be a task that is onerous enough to dissuade a potential buyer from purchasing the flexible covering assembly instead of a storm window assembly.
Since storm windows can include some sort of security alarm system, such as intrusion alarms, storm windows often have a significant selling feature as compared to a simple flexible covering that can be breached by an intruder.
Still further, even though the flexible covering is sealed to a window casing, over a period of time, draft paths can become established. Such draft paths can tend to vitiate the sealing effect of the flexible covering, thereby, again placing such coverings at a commercial disadvantage with respect to storm windows.
Still further, many of the flexible coverings presently available are easily breached by an intruder, and thus offer little or no protection against such intrusion. On the other hand, storm windows can be formed with bars and strong materials that can make them extremely difficult to breach.
Accordingly, there is a need for a flexible window covering that is commercially competitive with storm windows and which can be easily and expeditiously installed and removed while establishing and maintaining a secure closure for the window as well as having an ability to establish a leak-proof seal around the window.